Kukul Mas Curry ~ Sri Lankan Chicken Curry

When the themes for the Blogging Marathon #84 were declared, I didn’t think twice about the second theme to choose. It had to be “Sinhalese Cuisine”. There was a little confusion when I started with it. We know Sri Lanka as a country, but a little digging indicated that Sinhalese are the largest portion of people in Sri Lanka, and they are Buddhist. Their food reigns majority in the country. There are then the Tamils and the Muslims who have slightly varied ways of cooking. Sounds similar to how it is in Kerala too!

So having cleared up the confusion of what cuisine I can look for, I ended up getting so confused with what I should be trying. Somehow the first to catch my attention was their chicken curry and I had to make it. Though the curry feels so much like our style, it is different in its own way. Also, there is a wide variety of spices used in this curry. You wouldn’t believe how many recipes I read through for this curry. Almost 5-6 pages of whatever Google threw up on me. 😉 Just as I had expected, every person had recipes with their own variations. Reading through all, I came to the below conclusion:

Cinnamon and cardamom must be there in the tempering stage for the curry.

Coconut milk is a must to add.

Spices use can vary from person to person.

Pandan leaf is used for flavoring, which I skipped since I couldn’t get a small quantity.

Many recipes used Sri Lankan curry powder or even Madras curry powder. Even though I had the latter in my pantry, I wouldn’t use it since I really wanted to use all spices. 😉 So I went by what was majorly used in most of the recipes and included it. There was only one post which indicated use of a roasted coconut paste – it was a travalogue and was more of a vivid explanation of how the grandmother in picture had made the curry. The roasted coconut paste was really so tempting that even though I couldn’t find it any other post, I still went ahead and made it. I was so glad I did! It was super exercise for my biceps (ahem! 😉 ) but it was totally worth it.

Some recipes used tamarind pulp but I have skipped it. I guess it would include a nice tangy angle to this curry. All in all it was a super tasting gravy. I slow cooked it in a chatti (earthern pot) and what better way to cook it! I wouldn’t say this is an authentic version, but I am sure I would love to try it from somewhere to know how the real thing tastes like. Since the taste was so close to our own preparation, it was a hit with the family. We enjoyed it with some ghee rice in the afternoon, and mopped up the remaining gravy with some bread at night. Just like any coconut based curry, as it sits the curry thickens, so add more warm water for gravy. This is an amazing curry, which deserves a try! Off to the recipe…

The name of the curry sounds very interesting and the curry looks delicious and flavor filled with the roasted coconut and all those spices that goes in 🙂Ruxana recently posted…Home made Tomato Ketchup/Tomato Sauce

I am yet to try both coconut milk and roasted coconut in the same gravy! Anything with coconut is bound to be yumm….
But so true when we often make dishes from recipes we learnt over net , we often wonder is this how the dish is supposed to taste and hope to taste the authentic one to know how close we are to it.

This is the first time I am trying both together too… it’s always either one of them… it is tough to find authentic in this age when everybody is trying to give their own twists to recipes… Thanks a lot Ria…

Wow you have really spent so much time digging into the cuisine. That’s fantastic. I guess each recipe however authentic one claims will again change as per family. So one can never say for sure!..I love the flavour roasted coconut lends to the kurma, we also use that way and love it..very nicely plated your dish Rafeeda..

That is an impressive research, Rafeeda. I have recently begun to appreciate coconut milk in my gravies and I am sure the vegetable version is just as flavorful.harini recently posted…Ginger Chutney ~ Allam Pachadi – 2

looks yumm …. We visited Sri lanka during the school holidays , have got a post coming up about our trip. Maybe next time you come home to india you should visit sri lanka and maldives 😉Nammi recently posted…Tuna and White Bean Stew

Quite a flavourful chicken curry, definitely a fingerlicking goodness dish to enjoy with a bowl of rice or rotis. And simply loved the name of this dish.Priya Suresh recently posted…Puto/Filipino Steamed Cake